Nigerian midfielder, Wilfred Ndidi, will be out of action for at least three months due to a muscle injury.
According to Leicester City coach Enzo Maresca, it will take a long time before he fully recovers.
The 27-year-old midfielder who missed the Foxes’ Championship win over Huddersfield on New Year’s Day was also withdrawn from Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations squad and has since been replaced by Alhassan Yusuf in the squad.
He is expected to miss 15 of the Foxes’ remaining 20 league games this season.
Ndidi has been a consistent performer for the Foxes this season making 24 appearances in all competitions, scoring four goals and providing six assists.
Speaking during his pre-match conference on Friday, Maresca said, “The players who are injured are all progressing well, “Jamie Vardy, Kasey McAteer, Dennis Praet, Will Alves, Kele (Kelechi Iheanacho) and Wilfred Ndidi. They are still in the same situation.
“Probably for Wilf, it will be a long time. It could be three months. It looks like a muscle problem, but an important one. We’ll see in the next few hours. The situation for Wilf is the clearest one”.
Ndidi, an FA Cup winner with Leicester is into the final six months of his contract at the King Power Stadium, been a key member of Maresca’s table-topping Foxes.
Maresca also revealed that Iheanacho is still not fit to play.
“I don’t know if Iheanacho can play at AFCON”, he continued.
“The only thing I can say is that Kele is still injured. He’s getting better but still not 100 percent, otherwise, he would be in the squad for tomorrow (today)”.
Meanwhile, President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Gusau remains optimistic that Iheanacho will join the Eagles squad in Lagos on 9 January.
“I have spoken to Iheanacho, he’s recovering fast and has even started running. He will most likely join us in Lagos, where the team will be hosted to a dinner on 9 January”, Gusau told reporters in Abuja.
Nigeria will open their AFCON campaign on 14 January against Equatorial Guinea before they face Ivory Coast four days later. Their final Group A fixture is against Guinea-Bissau on 22 January.
